More countries proposing a tax on sugary
drinks, but F&B industry puts up resistance
On a
sweltering evening in downtown Bangkok, thirsty joggers crowd around a drinks
kiosk in Sukhumvit Road. Most reach for chilled water, or sweet ready-mixed
green tea, each bottle containing almost 90 per cent the daily recommended
allowance of sugar.
Thai
health advocates are trying to bring this under control. Last month, a
junta-appointed reform assembly submitted a proposal to tax packaged drinks
according to their sugar content. This could result in beverages like soda,
coffee, green tea and energy drinks becoming at least 20 per cent more
expensive, and hopefully keep a lid on the incidence of obesity, diabetes and
hypertension in the fast ageing country.
Thailand's
attempt to wean its people off sugary drinks is part of a growing trend in
Asia, where increasingly calorie-rich diets and sedentary lifestyles are
producing health complications that threaten national budgets.
Philippine
lawmakers last November introduced a Bill to charge a 10 per cent tax on
sweetened drinks. India policymakers have proposed a 40 per cent rate. Vietnam
mulled over but eventually scrapped a proposed 10 per cent tax in 2014 after
commercial pressure, while Indonesia is facing similar opposition over its soda
tax plans.
Singapore
has no such tax, but the idea was brought up during last month's parliamentary
debate.
The
Singapore health authorities say that Asians are genetically more predisposed
to diabetes than Caucasians.
Dr Annie
Ling, director of policy, research and surveillance at Singapore's Health
Promotion Board, has said that for the same amount of carbohydrates consumed,
the glucose response in the blood of Asians could be as high as double that of
Caucasians.
The World
Health Organisation (WHO) recommends sugar consumption be limited to 12
teaspoons or about 50g a day, a limit easily reached by drinking one can of
soda. Worryingly large numbers of children in Asia are doing this daily.
According
to WHO data, 57.7 per cent of Thai children aged between 13 and 15 years
consume carbonated soft drinks one or more times per day. In Brunei, the figure
is 46.3 per cent; in Cambodia, 45.6 per cent; and in the Philippines, 42.2 per
cent.
The
overconsumption of sugar is "serious in most - if not all - Asian
countries", Dr Katrin Engelhardt, the technical lead for nutrition in the
WHO's regional office for the Western Pacific, tells The Sunday Times.
"Sugar-sweetened beverages are a key source of sugar consumption in Asia",
where its growing economies represent an important market for the food and
beverage industry.
Indeed,
it is the companies in this industry that put up the stiffest resistance to
higher taxes. For instance, the Indian subsidiary of Coca-cola Co, which
employs 25,000 staff, warned last year that it would be forced to consider
shutting down some of its factories if there was a sharp decline in sales. And
Indonesia's bottled tea maker PT Sinar Sosro told the Wall Street Journal last
year that the tax may prompt the company to reconsider investment plans.
The
consumption of sugar across Asia is steadily rising. According to data by
market research firm Euromonitor, Japan topped the list of Asian countries in
terms of sugar consumed from packaged food and drink in 2014. That year, each
person in Japan consumed 75.2g of sugar every day, compared to 53.59g in Hong
Kong, 31.75g in Singapore and 29.81g in Thailand.
But these
figures likely understate the actual amount of sugar consumed, as they do not
take into account sugar added to freshly prepared food and drink.
Thais,
for example, spoon sugar onto their noodles. According to Dr Piyada Prasertsom,
the manager of Thailand's Sweet Enough Network, which combats childhood
obesity, each Thai person consumed an average of 100g of sugar every day last
year.
The WHO
says governments should complement fiscal measures by requiring sugar content
to be properly displayed on food labels, as well as restricting the marketing
of foods and drink high in salt, sugar and fat to children.
Thailand's
health ministry has been urging government agencies to downsize snacks served
during meetings, as well as offer water instead of soda.
But it is
the tax proposals that have ruffled the most feathers. According to media
reports, the Thai Beverage Industry Association has questioned the link between
obesity and drinking soda.
Shopkeeper
Chaiwat Pawanthapong, who sells soda and other drinks in Bangkok, warns that
gloomy economic conditions may not be conducive to such a tax. "You don't
want to impose a bigger burden on people," he said.
However,
Dr Pornpan Bunyaratpan, a key member of the Thai National Reform Steering
Assembly who is advocating the tax, points out that it need not be this way.
"If
the companies reduce the amount of sugar in their drinks, they make people
healthy and they won't be subject to the tax," she said.
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